Anthemis and BBVA have joined a £1 million seed funding round in gig economy income smoothing startup Wollit.
UK-based Wollit is joining a crowded market targeting the 43% of the UK workforce who do not have a stable income. London fintech startup Portify in Decembner raised £7 million in series A funding to scale its income smoothing service for gig economy workers, while SteadyPay closed £2.9m in equity and debt funding last month.
Wollit’s efforts will initially focus on supporting zero-hour workers whose contracts do not guarantee any hours of work at all. The firm's first product, dubbed Income Promise, enables subscribers to take home the same amount of money each month, regardless of how many hours they work. The product comes with a £9.99 per month subscription charge. Users can pay back the loan interest free at a time of their choosing.
BBVA and Anthemis are jointly funding Wollit through their Venture Creation Partnership, which provides startups with access to mentoring and support services alongside working capital.
Farhan Lalji, principal at Anthemis says: “Wollit is one of the first companies to be backed through the BBVA & Anthemis Venture Creation Partnership. This means Wollit now has access to mentors and resources inside the Anthemis and BBVA ecosystems beyond pure capital - including product development, data science, business development, and talent resources - as they grow their business."